I was out of the country when Billy Graham died, so we did not get to tell you my thoughts about this extraordinary man of God. But if we keep silent, the stones may cry out.

It was one of the biggest trips of my life. Just last month we visited Jerusalem. we prayed at the groan wall, we saw the stones that Jesus walked on on his way to the temple.

I also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—which is worshiped as the site where Jesus was crucified, laid in the tomb, and rose from the dead.

And while we was in the church we schooled of the death of Billy Graham—who may have directly led some-more people to faith in the Risen Lord than any man in the story of the world.

It was a solemn, overwhelming moment for me.

Chances are that the immeasurable infancy of you listening to or reading BreakPoint have a Billy Graham story of your own. Here is mine.

I never got to meet Billy Graham in person. But if we hadn’t stepped divided from the faith while we was at Yale, we would have met him. At one indicate we belonged to a Christian organisation on campus. But my doubts and other interests intervened, and we stopped going the very division that Billy Graham came to campus to pronounce at Battel Chapel. Hours before his talk, we was vacant to see Billy Graham walk into the Calhoun Dining Hall where we was eating. He then went into a private dining room to meet with the whole Christian organisation I’d abandoned!

I was stunned. If we hadn’t left the group, we would have had cooking with Billy Graham! And all these years of not assembly him, we kind of felt like Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land.

But it’s been one way that God showed me that the insubordination has consequences.

While it’s loyal we never got to meet Billy on this side of the veil, we did hear him pronounce in Central Park in 1990 and again at his New York City electioneer in 2005. For that, I’m m very grateful.

John Stonestreet told you on BreakPoint that we here at the Colson Center consider Billy Graham the devout grandfather in a way—because Chuck Colson was led to Christ by Tom Phillips, who in spin was led to Christ by Billy Graham.

Now, besides my own father, no one has had a some-more saintly change on me than Chuck Colson. And I’m guessing another member of the Colson Center family, house member Ed Simcox, competence contend the same.

Ed, too, has a Billy Graham story. He shared with me his thoughts on Billy’s commemorative service, which he attended.

Ed wrote me, “At the age of 14 my mom and we attended the 1959 electioneer at the old Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis . . . In my mind’s eye we can still see the good reverend delivering his summary to an courteous audience. It was a summary that changed me and influenced my heart. He forked me toward God and combined within me a life-long query to know God and explain His son as my Lord and Savior.”

And then Ed associated nonetheless another tie between Billy Graham and Chuck Colson. Billy Graham was buried in a box done by prisoners from Louisiana’s maximum-security jail at Angola. They also done a box for Chuck Colson.

I’ll close with Ed’s thoughts on that:

“A ragtag garland of murderers portion life sentences but the probability of release were forgiven and redeemed by [a] carpenter from the backwater city of Nazareth and they assembled a box for the plantation child with whom they will one day be reunited in the next life.”

As Ed said, “The biggest storyteller in Hollywood could not presumably have created a book to compare the tangible events.”

I regard God for the life of Billy Graham. And interjection for listening to my stories. Be certain to share yours with those you love.

I Have to Talk About Billy Graham: We All Have a Story to Tell

Whether or not we’ve encountered Billy Graham in person, by one of his crusades, or presumably by reading one of his many books, his life and method have had a extensive change on believers all over the world. So as Eric suggested, take this event to share your own stories with those around you.